Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 25 Generous loot
After a round of volleys, Zhu Cilang's musketeers immediately switched to swords and rifles and charged forward. In the dim night, it was impossible for the musketeers to reload their ammunition and fire a second round of volleys.

However, the twenty-one archers were different. The steps for them to draw the bow and arrow were not complicated. The muscle memory accumulated over the years enabled these veterans to shoot arrows at three or four times the speed of a musket even in the dark.

As a result, more than a dozen Shun soldiers who had just suffered heavy losses were shot dead or injured when they fled with their backs turned to them. Such huge casualties made the Shun army almost lose the ability to fight back.

The Ming army armored soldiers, equipped with swords and guns, quickly rushed forward under the cover of archers, and began to unilaterally massacre the Shun army soldiers from behind who were pushing and squeezing each other in a hurry, blocking the door and windows, and who had no time to retreat into the house.

Soon, the remaining twenty-one archers also changed into swords and guns, rushed forward, followed the panicked and retreating Shun army, quickly attacked the houses, and strangled all the Shun soldiers who retreated into them.

These one hundred or so Shun soldiers were ambushed by the guards commanded by Zhu Cilang and were completely wiped out in less than two quarters of an hour. Hao Yaoqi, who was in Jinghai County to the north, was completely unaware of this, let alone sending troops to support him in time.

It took two days to travel from Qingxian to Jinghai and back, plus the time for mobilizing troops. By the time Hao Yaoqi led his troops to pursue to Qingxian, Zhu Cilang might have already entered Shandong.

Once Zhu Cilang left Hao Yaoqi's defense zone, if he wanted to pursue him, he had to report to Li Zicheng in Beijing first. Otherwise, it would be considered as privately mobilizing troops without military orders, which is a serious crime punishable by beheading according to military law.

When Zhu Cilang made the decision to launch a surprise attack, he had fully taken this into consideration - Hao Yaoqi would be stuck in a dilemma.

Just as he expected, if this battle was fought, the benefits would be enormous; if it was not fought, the disadvantages would be enormous!
Seeing that the battle had been won, Zhou Shixian was extremely excited. Under the leadership of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, they had won another remarkable victory. He immediately asked Zhu Cilang for instructions:

"Your Highness, now that the situation has been determined, should we send some troops to assist Lin Yongan? With the strength of the Lin Family Village alone, I'm afraid they won't be able to deal with so many people in the Lu Family Village in a short time."

"Yeah!" Zhu Cilang looked at Lin Changfeng, Chen Fu, Chang Denggui and others who were already cleaning up the battlefield, and nodded immediately.

"Take ten armored soldiers with you. If the village guards don't resist, don't kill them. However, kill all the descendants of the Lu Family's headman, including fathers, sons, and brothers, as long as they are adults. Let Lin Yongan handle this matter. He will deal with the rest of the Lu Family's guards as well."

Zhu Cilang didn't want to kill too many innocent people, but at this time, not killing those who should be killed would only bring him new troubles. In order to ensure his safety while moving south, he had to dismantle the organizational capabilities of the Lu Family Village and kill all the descendants of the Lu Family Village's patriarch who had contact with the Shun Army.

"Yes!" Zhou Shixian gave the order and immediately led ten armored soldiers to run out of the west courtyard.

Chen Fu, Lin Changfeng, Chang Denggui and others quickly cleared the battlefield. Like Zhou Shixian, they were all very excited. This time they were fighting against the elite cavalry of the Heshun Army. Although it was a surprise attack, they had never thought of such a complete victory before.

There were even some soldiers cutting off heads. Although Zhu Cilang had said that he would not reward them according to this, the Ming soldiers, who had suffered repeated defeats in recent years and whose morale was low, seemed to be commemorating this rare victory in this way.

Zhu Cilang looked at the soldiers under his command who were all in high spirits, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Although this is only a small victory, it is probably of extraordinary significance to the troops from the Beijing camp that have gathered from all over the place!

Not only that, after this victory, Chen Fu, Lin Changfeng, Chang Denggui and others were already full of admiration for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang.

If asking for food from the local villages and killing Li Laoer were not difficult tasks in the eyes of these powerful military leaders, they could do it themselves.

But now, faced with the confusing and complex military situation, none of them felt that they could make the right decision so quickly and lead them to defeat the enemy who originally had superior manpower.

Just the decision of whether to fight or not would probably have made them hesitate for a long time. This was the powerful Shun army that had swept across Shanxi and Northern Zhili with hundreds of thousands of troops in just two months! If someone wanted others to follow him to death, they must have a reason that made them absolutely convinced from the inside out and willing to give their lives to him.

Now, Zhu Cilang has done it again!

Under the sudden attack, only five of the more than one hundred Shun troops surrendered. After interrogation, it was found that they were indeed sent by Hao Yaoqi. The purpose of this cavalry coming to Qing County was almost the same as Zhu Cilang's guess, which undoubtedly further enhanced Zhu Cilang's prestige.

However, Hao Yaoqi was more vicious and greedy than Zhu Cilang had imagined. They not only wanted to rob Linjiazhai, but also planned to extort a large sum of money from Lujiazhai after the success.

In fact, this Shun cavalry had already robbed two wealthy businessmen who were fleeing south and killed dozens of innocent civilians on their way south. This was the real reason why they arrived at Lujiazhai after nightfall, and it was not just because they were delayed to avoid the rain.

Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to subdue these five veterans of the Shun Army, but it is even more impossible to let them go.

Zhu Cilang instructed Chen Fu to conduct a strict interrogation and dug out all the crimes they had committed in the past. Then Chen Fu punished them for multiple crimes according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty and directly ordered his soldiers to chop off the heads of several people.

At the same time, Chang Denggui had already counted the captured Shun army horses, a total of 218 horses, which exceeded the number of war horses originally owned by Zhu Cilang's guards.

Not only that, the armor on the more than one hundred Shun cavalrymen, as well as the armor, bows and arrows, swords, spears, axes and clubs they carried, although damaged, were enough to equip another elite army of nearly one hundred people after they were sorted out.

Now, Lujiazhai is within reach. After Zhu Cilang controls the ships of the two canal gangs in Qing County, it will be easy for him to transport the captured spoils and the food and fodder needed for the southward march.

The wealth accumulated by the head of Lujiazhai over the years, the food and horse fodder in the village, and the thousands of taels of gold, silver and jewelry looted by the Shun army are now resources that Zhu Cilang can control.

Seeing the rich spoils they had already grasped in just one night, the soldiers looked at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who had led them to victory with a bit more awe in their eyes!
From now on, they have one and only one Crown Prince, and also one and only one Emperor!
With the support of Zhou Shixian, Lin Yongan quickly eliminated the last resistance force of Lujiazhai. After receiving Zhou Shixian's hint, he directly ordered the killing of the head of Lujiazhai and his family.

Zhou Shixian originally thought that the other party would leave the child behind, but he didn't expect that Lin Yongan had killed everyone without him noticing.

He has been wandering the world for so many years, and the thing he hates most is not to cut the grass at its roots. The conflicts between Linjiazhai and Lujiazhai for hundreds of years cannot be explained in just a few words.

"Master Lin, His Highness has ordered that innocent people must not be killed indiscriminately. The rest of the villagers, you must remember not to do this again. Otherwise, His Highness will never forgive you." Zhou Shixian threatened.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yongan, whose face was covered in blood, immediately bowed and clasped his hands towards Zhou Shixian, saying flatteringly:
"Your Highness is right. I will obey His Highness's orders. I have no grudge against the remaining people, so I will not kill them. But Lu Siyuan killed my father. The hatred for killing my father is irreconcilable. Otherwise, I would never have wiped out the roots."

Zhou Shixian didn't really believe Lin Yongan's words. None of the ten words these wandering people said were true. But at this time, he didn't care about that anymore and said immediately:
"That's good. I'll go back and report to His Highness. You must take control of Lujiazhai as quickly as possible and gather the ships, food, fodder, and civilians to the open space within the village."

"Yes, I obey your command!" Lin Yongan bent his waist even lower.

"One more thing." Zhou Shixian paused, motioning Lin Yongan to put his ear close to his mouth, and then continued, "Have your men spread the word to these villagers, saying that we are the sons of nobles who came south from the capital and are preparing to return to Jinan."

　Thanks to book friend Yuekenlu Dazhuang for the fourth generous reward. The author is flattered!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)